Kerala mulls rehabilitation to end stray dog menace

Thiruvananthapuram, June 27 (IANS) The Kerala government will come up with a rehabilitation scheme to end the stray dog menace in the state, a minister said here Friday.

"As a pilot programme, we are coming out with a scheme of castrating stray dogs and then taking them to a place where they will not create problems for the public," Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali told the state assembly.

"We are discussing the issue with the forest department," added Ali. Besides, he said, experts have pointed out that one way to end the menace was to castrate stray dogs and last year 1,700 dogs was castrated.

He was replying to a calling attention motion from Indian Union Muslim League legislator P.K. Basheer that only castration would not end the stray dogs menace.

Basheer said: "In the last calendar year, 11 people died and 88,172 people were bitten by stray dogs and it is continuing unabated. Rs.10 crore has been spent by the state government last year to buy anti-rabies vaccine.

"The authorities are hiding behind a court order that no action should be taken against dogs. The state assembly and the legislator's hostel are full of stray dogs, making my early morning walk a tough affair," he said.

"Our job is to frame laws for the benefit of people...," Basheer said.

Ali pointed out that there was an interim order of the Supreme Court in 2009 and the Kerala government is now a party in the case.

The apex court in 2009 stayed a Bombay High Court ruling which had allowed municipal authorities in Maharashtra to kill stray dogs creating a "nuisance".